Market Corner (2) - 07/07/08

A few set of market information released this week:

• According to Deutsch Bank, global mobile phone shipments would only increase by 6% this year (vs previous forecast of 8%) following weaker demand in Europe and general economic slowdown.

• China will launch mobile TV service for the Beijing Olympic Games, using its home-grown China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) standard. CMMB is a mix of satellite and terrestrial broadcasting. But currently there is no satellite transmission (the US partner EchoStar decided to suspend construction of the CMBStar satellite). So in a first phase, programs will be broadcast over a UHF spectrum band.

• According to In-Stat, shipments of GPS phones will exceed 5m in 2009 and will account for about 10% of total mobile phone shipments in 2012, compared to 0.6% in 2007.

• In-Stat found that the US multi-service business gateway (MSBG) market continue to grow. The multi-service business gateway (MSBG) combines the functionality of a router, Ethernet switch, security firewall, VoIP gateway, and other appliances into a single, integrated device. In-Stat found that nearly 66% of businesses prefer office-in-a-box devices.

• An EU survey found that 24% of European households have given up fixed landlines for mobile phones. 29% of European households buy two or more telecom and media products from a single service provider (mainly telephone + internet)

• Infonetics reports that the worldwide WLAN equipment revenue hit $499m in 1Q08, up 1%. Cisco continues to lead the worldwide WLAN equipment market.

• According to ROA, the number of mobile WiMAX users in South Korea will increase to more than 2.5m by 201.